Rocket
Rocket is an altered chimpanzee who was the Alpha at the San Bruno Primate Shelter before and during Caesar's time at the shelter. He was a typical bully until Caesar outsmarted him and took his place as Alpha. Settling their differences aside, the two became the most unlikeliest of allies. During the Ape Rebellion, Caesar tasks Rocket as one of his lead lieutenants. After ten years, the two are still best friends and Rocket is still one of Caesar's closest companions. He will play a big part in Caesar's Council of Apes and the Ape Army as he is Caesar's Second in Command. He is also the father of Ash. History Rise of the Planet of the Apes Rocket was the dominant male at the San Bruno Primate Shelter in which Caesar is forced to live after he attacks his next door neighbour. In Caesar's early days at the shelter, Rocket bullied him and established dominance over him. This doesn't last long. Tired of being picked on, Caesar uses his above average intelligence to outsmart the alpha and take his place. Rocket is somewhat reluctant but is forced to acknowledge Caesar as his successor thanks to the gorilla, Buck. When Caesar unleashes the ALZ-113 virus on the sleeping apes, Rocket becomes infected and becomes one of Caesar's most loyal companions during the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge. On the bridge, Caesar commands Rocket to lead a group of apes to go up the side of the bridge and await his command while Maurice and his new Orangutan friends take the bridge from underneath. Rocket also served as one of the leaders of the battle by standing at Caesar's side while the waited for the humans to unleash their attack. The next time Rocket is seen is in the forest with Maurice (and possibly Cornelia) when Caesar is saying his final goodbyes to his adoptive human father, Will. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm Rocket is first seen when he spots a helicopter hovering above the trees. Caesar commands him to find him six apes and to report back to him. He soon returns with three Orangutans, two Chimpanzees and Koba, the Bonobo. Later in the book, he reports to Caesar, excited and shows him and his small band of apes a pile of food that he and his own band found. Caesar sees skins from some of the fruit on the ground and questions Rocket. He sheepishly tells him that he and his band had touched some of the food. Caesar, suspicious of this mysterious pile of food, has Koba inspect only to find a camera and several other devices. More To come... Dawn of the Planet of the Apes 10 years after Caesar's takeover and the outbreak of the Simian Flu, Rocket is still faithful to Caesar and is still one of his closest companions. He, like Caesar, will be the father of a teenage son named Ash. More information to come... Personality At first, Rocket appeared to be an arrogant, cruel and cold bully who harassed and traumatised Caesar. He enjoys power and shows immense pride in being in charge. After being overthrown by Caesar, Rocket became a worthwhile ally and his sense of pride deminished and because Caesar's takeover of the what would become the ape colony, Rocket realised there was more to power then originally thought and that there was no need to be brutal and cruel to be a great leader. More to come… Abilities *'Skilled Combatant:' Rocket is a skilled combatant and was one of the primary warriors of the Battle of the Golden Gate Bridge. *'Advanced Intelligence: '''Rocket unknowingly inhaled the ALZ-113 when Caesar, in the dead of night, exposed it to the other apes while many of them were imprisoned in San Bruno. He was one of the first apes shown with green irises, a trait that is later passed on to his own son, Ash. it is unknown how much his advanced intelligence and IQ has increased. ''More to come… *'Sign Language:' Like Caesar and Maurice, Rocket knows American Sign Language. He uses it as a way of communication, it is possible that he learned it from Caesar or Maurice. More to come… *'Speech:' Having inhaled the ALZ-113, Rocket has gained the ability of speech but it is currently unknown how much he will speak during Dawn. Relationships Maurice Maurice is Rocket's close friend. Though they have little to no interaction, Rocket and Maurice seemed to be civil despite the fact that Maurice thinks that he's stupid due to his brutality and apparent lack of a brain. Over the next ten years, Rocket and Maurice are likely closer then they were in captivity. Both are close to Caesar and it is likely that Ash, Rocket's son is one of Maurice's students prompting a closer association. More to Come... Caesar Caesar is Rocket's best friend. Rocket and Caesar's relationship didn't have a good start at first. When Caesar tries to befriend him, the Alpha male started to bully him for no apparent reason. After Caesar befriended Buck the gorilla, Caesar is able to lure Rocket out of his cage to the play area, and is able to overthrow him as Rocket knows he is no match for Buck the gorilla. Rocket and Caesar are able to settle their differences and they become the most unlikeliest of friends with him serving as one of Caesar's key lieutenants during the ape rebellion and battle on the Golden Gate Bridge. Rocket ends up becoming Caesar's second best friend and loyal follower. Over the next ten years, Rocket and Caesar are still best friends with Rocket being Caesar's second-in-command. They have become closer as they are both fathers to teenage sons. More to Come... Koba Koba is Rocket's friend. Rocket and Koba had little interaction with each other, during the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge. During the 10 year time jump Rocket and Koba are now friends. More to come... Ash Ash is Rocket's teenage son. It is currently unknown as to what kind of a relationship Rocket has with his son. More to Come... Buck Buck was a fellow inmate of Rocket while they were in captivity. Though they had very little interaction, Rocket feared Buck to begin with, believing that if he didn't do what he was told, he'd get beat up by the gorilla who was now loyal to Caesar. Seeing that Caesar had Buck on his side, he stepped down as Alpha, allowing Caesar to take his place. Before the battle on the Golden Gate Bridge, Rocket is seen on the top of a cable car with Buck, Caesar and Maurice, showing that he and Buck appeared to be civil. Notes * Most of the other apes in the movie had significant names, and Rick Jaffa claimed on the DVD feature that Rocket was named in tribute to Norman Rockett, a set designer on the first movie. * An earlier version of the script differed in that Rocket's eyes begin to go green (a sign of intelligence) after having bitten Caesar during their initial confrontation. After Caesar and Rocket together escape the primate facility and visit both Will's house and the Gen-Sys lab, they use stolen scissors to share their blood with the other apes at the facility and thus pass on their viral intelligence. In this version of the script, Rocket dies on the Golden Gate Bridge after being shot by Dodge Landon, who was aiming for Caesar. * Terry Notary, who played Rocket, had also worked on Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes in 2001, as a movement instructor and stunt coordinator on both films. He also played Bright Eyes. * Terry Notary played Rocket's motion capture role but (unlike the other ape actors) also did the vocal effects for Rocket, according to Rupert Wyatt on the director's commentary on the Blu-Ray version of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. * In an earlier version of the script, as confirmed by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver while being interviewed, Rocket was originally the film's antagonist but in the final film Rocket instead became one of Caesar's second-in-command. The other being Maurice. * Rocket is mistaken by Andy Serkis as a baboon, even though that Rocket is a chimp and baboons aren't a type of ape, they are large monkeys. * Rocket is present in the first official still from Dawn. He is on Caesar's left. He also appears in the first trailer for the film as this is where the still is from. Trivia * Rocket is due to return in Dawn and will be played once again by Terry Notary. *It is unknown how much interaction Rocket will have with Caesar's family in Dawn. It has been revealed that Rocket will have a son but it unknown whether his wife will appear in the film as there has been no mention of another female appearing. *According to an interview, it is said that Rocket will be Caesar's second-in-command but struggles with being intelligent. *Rocket has a son named Ash. *It is currently unknown who the mother of Ash is. Image Gallery wetaRocket.jpg|Terry Notary as Rocket. ThumbnailCANOL0CK.jpg|Rocket picks on Caesar. International30.jpg|Greeting to Caesar. Rocketcell.jpg|Rocket in his cage. ThumbnailCAJKNV0O.jpg|Caesar, Rocket, Maurice and Buck. Rise of the Planet of the Apes19.jpg|Gen-Sys Escape. Weta28.jpg|Rocket with Buck, Maurice and Caesar. Rocket.jpg|Escape. Risesketch2.jpg|Koba, Rocket and Lucky art. Hail King Caesar.jpg|Caesar with Rocket on his left. Off Rocket?.jpg|Rocket Poster (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). Movies-dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-01.jpg|Rocket with Caesar, Koba and other Apes. Dawn-of-the-Planet-of-the-Apes-1.jpg|Rocket with Maurice, Caesar and River on Horses. Dawn-Of-The-Planet-Of-The-Apes-10.jpg|Rocket alongside Caesar. dawn-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-motion-capture.png|Terry Notary as Rocket. Category:Chimpanzees Category:Living Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Heroes Category:Apes Category:CE Category:Former villains Category:Evolved Apes Category:CE Characters Category:Ape Rebellion (CE) Category:Caesar's Ape Army Category:Caesar's Ape Colony